Improvement in grain and grass harvesters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABNER WHI-TELEY, OF CLARKE COUNTY, OHIO. I

IMPROVEMENT IN GRAIN AND GRASS HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 13,246, dated July 10,1855.

To all whom z'tfmay concern:

Be it known that I, ABNER WHITELEY, of the county of Clarke and State ofOhio, have invented several new and useful Improvements in Grain andGrass Harvesters and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of thesame, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of thisspecification.

This improvement consists in making the finger-bar a center ofoscillation also, in a mode of giving the master-wheel and fingerbareach an independent adjustment to the ground, while the angle of thefingers and cut are preserved; also, in an arrangement by which thedriver can raise and lower the edge and alter the angle of thefinger-bar at his pleasure while the team is in motion without moving`the finger-bar off the ground.

In the accompanying drawings, Plate II, Figure III is a side elevation;Fig. 1V, a top view.

'A is the master-wheel.

H is the linger-bar, and is secured to the frame C C at the rear oftheWheelA, the tongue a being secured to the front by means of a singlebolt, forming a flexible joint, or two bolts to form a rigid joint.

c c is a frame-lever placed on the top of the frame C C.

t t are boxes for the master-wheel shaft, and secured to saidframe-lever, and having T- heads, which pass through slots in plates SS, which are bolted to the frame C C. The circular part of said slotsretain the cog-wheel O in gear while raising or lowering said frame C Cthrough that part of its elevation and depression whieh is designed tochange the angle which the fingers and critters make to the ground; butwhen said frame is so elevated as to cause the heads of said boxes topass into the reverse part of said slots, then said cogwheel will passout of gear. rllhe linksggare made to hold said frame-lever and frametogether by means of iron pins passing through the sides of said frame CC, and the lower end ot' said links and others passing through the sidesof said frame-lever c e and the upper end of said links.

e is an iron bar with notches in it, and fastened to the rear of theframe C C and passing up' through theframe-lever c c.

f is an iron lever on the frame-lever e c, which latches into thenotches in the iron bar, and is held in said notches by the spring d,and when it is desired to use the machine in this form for cutting grainthe other bolt,.as

shown atu, must be passed through the tongue,

links g g and sides of frame C C and frame-lever c c, form flexiblejoints and permit the frame-lever c c to move backward and forward inthe' passage of the T-heads of boxes t t upand down in the slots inplates S S, and'accommodate it t0 elevating and depressing the frame CC, and also permit it to move -back when the heads of boxes t t passinto the reverse part of said slots to throw the machine out of gear,and it will be seen that by using the links g g and plates S S, can makethe short end of the frame-lever from the slots to the pins in the upperends of the links much shorter than they would be to extend from themaster-Wheel shaft to the'line of the pinionshaft, making theiiexible'joint, with its center of motion, the same as the center of thepinionshaft, which would, if so made as to support the master-wheelindependent of any other connection wit the frame-work of the machine,and permitted to work freely up and down during the operation of themachine, accomplish the same object, so far as, givin g the master-wheelA and linger-bar H each an independent adjustment to the ground, but forraising and lowering the frame C C to oscillate it, having thefinger-bar as a center of oscillation, and change the angle of cut whenusing the machine for mowing. I Since the links g gand plates S S enableme to make thc short end of the lever shorter, it of course makes it themore easily operated, and also enables me to throw the machine out ofgear, and it will be seen that the flexible joints connecting the tonguea to thc frame C C and flexible joints connecting the frame C C andframelever c c are all necessary to permit the frame C C to beoscillated to raise and lower the angle of cut when the team is inmotion.

To give the master-wheel A. anCbnger-bar H each an independentadjustment to the ground, the master-wheel must be hung in a separateframe and connected to the wheelt'rame by a flexible joint orjoints, andsecured in gear by some suitable means. Now, in this case themaster-wheel A is hung to the framelever c c, and said frame-lever-isconnected to the frame() C by the linksgg with iiexible joints, andtheplates S S secure the wheels in gear while raising and lowering theframe, and also hold the master-wheel shaft parallel to thepinion-shaft, and the links r/ g hold it parallel to the piane ot' thewheel-frame; and it will be seen that by throwing out ot' gear in thismanner the cogs are made to part from each other and pass out of gear,while the shafts carrying said wheel remain in their parallel positionto each other, and thus the liability of breaking or wearing' oft' thecorners of the cogs by moving` one end only of the shaft is avoided.Further, it' it is desired to mow with the tongue stili', it is onlynecessary again to detach the platform, 85o., and fasten back the ironlever]` with the pin V, when it will be seen that the linger-bar H willimmediately descend to the ground, and the master-wheel A and lingerbarwill each have an independent adjustment to the ground without affectingthe angle of the lingers and cutter.

The various ways in which this machine can be made to perform its workare shown in dotted lines in Plate H, Fig. lll. The curved dotted linesabove and below the wheel A show its greatest elevation and depressionwhile passing over uneven ground, and the front end ot' the tongue isthe stationary point, and is shown at the lowest point to suit a smallteam and at the highest point to suit a tall team, (the size of thehorses causing the end ofthe tongue to vary in height,) and when bothbolts are in the tongue, making it stiff, the ascent and descent ofthefinger-bar on uneven ground are shown in dotted lines, andwhen the boltat U is withdrawn the elevation and depression of the front end of theframe C C are shown, and the different positions of the frame-lever c cin elevating and depressing the front end ot' the frame C U are alsoshown in dotted lines.

The operation of this machine is as follows for mowing: The linger-har Hbeing secured to the rear end of the frame C C, and the driver beingplaced in the rear of the iron 1everf on the frame-lever c c, and withhis hand can move the lever to any point he desires while the team is inmotion, the shaft ot' the master-wheel A being the fulcrum on which theframe-lever c c works, and the frame O C being fastened to the front endot' the framelever c c, and when the driver depresses the rear end ofthe frame-lever c c it willraise the'front end offrame C @,which willraise thefront edge ofthe linger-bar H, which carries the fingers andcutters so as to make them run with ease over any obstruction, and whenhe raises said frame-lever o cit will throw the edge down again to cutthe fine grass close to the ground. Thus he can change the angle of thecut from high to low or throw the machine out of gear while passing overa space of two or three feet, the team beingin motion. Thus,it` itisnecessary to raise the edge to pass over lumpy ground, crawlishnests, orgravelly spots ot' ground to avoid injuring the edge ot' the cutter, hecan doit and throw the edge down again to cut the line grass withoutstopping the team, and when the bolt at U is put in through the tongueit will easily be understood that the Whole arrangement will be adaptedto reaping,

the other appendages having been attached.

It will also be seen that by fastening back the iron lever j' with thepiu V the iinger-bar H will descend to the ground ready to mow. Thetongue a now being stiff, the master-wheel A can ascend or descendwithout affecting the linger-bar H and cutter, the heads of the boxes tt playing up and down in the slots in plates S S to suitl the unevennessof the ground. The linger-bar H can ascend or descend without affectingthe master-wheel, the plates S S working up and down on the heads ofboxes t t, and thus the master-wheel A 4and tingen bar H each have anindependent adjustment to the ground; and thusitwill be seen that inpassing over uneven ground the master-wheel A can ascend or descendwithout affecting the finger-bar H, wheel-frame G @,ortongue. Thustheangle ot' the iingers and cutters is preserved when passing overuneven ground, and the diiiculty of the iingers and cutters running intothe ground when the master-wheel drops into a hole, as they will, withthe flexible joint connecting the wheel-frame and tongue a, iset't'ectually overcome.

Having thus described my improvements, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

l. So constructing the machine that when the joint between the tongueand frame is iiexible the latter may, while the team is in motion,

be raised and lowered in a sector ot' a circle whose center is thefinger-bar, and thereby enable the operator at once to change the angleof out, and this I claim irrespective of the mechanical device by whichthe motion is produced.

2. The frame-lever c c, provided with means of tixing its position atwill, and linked, as described, to the main frame G G, in combinationwith the guiding slotted plate S S as a means, when used with theiiexible joint between the tongue and frame, (for mo\ving,) ofoscillating the frame about the linger-bar as a center, and thus varyingthe angle of out, and when used with a rigid joint (for reaping) ofraising and depressin g theframe and finger-bar.

3. rlhe combination, with the links gg, ot' the receding curve in thebottom of the slots in plates S S, in which the axis of the drivingwheelplays, or of their equivalents, respectively, for the purpose ofenabling the driver to throw the cutter-pinion out of gear,substantially as described.

4. Suspending the main frame C C and its attachments from theydriving-shaft, substan tially in the manner set forth and described, 1ntestirnonywhereof havehereuntosigned in order that, whether used inreaping or mowname.

ing the drivinO-Wheel and the finger-bar may T be independenlyadjustable, and the wheel ABbER WHHELEY may rise over obstructions ordescend into de- Witnesses:

pressions without altering the angle of out or CHS. P. WANNALL,

otherwise affecting the Glitters. v Gr. W. CHERRY.

